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Cimetidine (TagametŪ) - For Cancer Treatment
Cimetidine (brand name TagametŪ) is a drug historically used to reduce stomach acid production. Published research dating back more than 20 years shows that this drug might make a greater impact in medicine if used as a cancer therapy rather than as a treatment for gastric disorders.
Since cimetidine is so well known as an H2 blocker medication to reduce stomach acid secretion, its role in cancer treatment has been grossly overlooked. This same misperception occurred when aspirin was first recommended to prevent a heart attack or stroke. Doctors were accustomed to prescribing aspirin to relieve pain and inflammation, but were unfamiliar with the concept of taking aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease and thrombotic events.
It is now the standard of care for a patient who has had a heart attack or stroke to be placed on aspirin as long as there are no individual contraindications. To date, the proven benefits of cimetidine to treat cancer have not been recognized by the medical community. The results of a brand new study on colon cancer patients may provide enough compelling evidence to convince oncologists that cimetidine is an effective adjuvant therapy.
In this article, we discuss research that substantiates the anti-cancer benefits of cimetidine and reveal what types of colon cancer cimetidine has been shown to be effective against. The brand name for cimetidine is TagametŪ, which is sold over-the-counter and as a prescription medication.
The first studies suggesting that cimetidine (TagametŪ) might be effective against cancer were published in the late 1970s. Scientists initially thought that cimetidine worked by enhancing immune function. Later studies showed that cimetidine functions via several different pathways to inhibit tumor cell propagation and metastasis.
In 1988 a prospective, randomized, placebo controlled study investigated the effect of cimetidine on the survival of 181 patients with gastric cancer. They were given either cimetidine at a dose of 400 mg twice daily or placebo for two years or until death. The study found that those given cimetidine had a significantly prolonged survival rate particularly in patients with more serious (stage II and IV) disease. This finding is especially notable in light of what we know today about the mechanism of action of cimetidine.
In 1994, a study was performed that demonstrated that just seven days of treatment with cimetidine (five days pre-operative and two days post-operative) decreased the three-year mortality rate from 41% to 7% in colorectal cancer patients. Another observation was that the tumors from the treated patients had a significantly higher rate of infiltration by lymphocytes. These tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) are a good prognostic indicator because they are part of the body's immune response to the tumor. With more TIL present, the body is more capable of attacking and eliminating the tumor. These observations led the scientific community to hypothesize that cimetidine functioned by augmenting the immune response to cancer in some fashion.
The latest study published in the British Journal of Cancer, January, 2002, was conducted through the collaboration of 15 institutions in Japan. After surgery to remove the primary tumor followed by IV Mitomycin chemotherapy, all patients were given either 200 mg of oral 5-FU or 200 mg of 5-FU with 800 mg of oral cimetidine daily for 12 consecutive months. The patients were followed for 10 years. The study showed a more than three-fold improvement in 10-year
survival of Dukes C colon cancer patients who were given cimetidine. Interestingly, the less aggressive forms of colon cancer (Duke A or B) did not respond as remarkably to the addition of cimetidine in this study as the more aggressive Dukes C.